WOODLARK. 625 



PA SSERES. A LA UD1 D^E. 



ALAUDA ARBOREA, Linnaeus*. 



THE WOODLARK. 



Alauda arborea. 



THE WOODLARK is readily known from the Skylark by its 

 smaller size, its shorter tail, its more distinctly marked 

 breast and by a conspicuous light-coloured streak over the 

 eye and ear-coverts. It is nowhere plentiful as a species ; 

 and in many parts of this country it is not found at all, 

 though there is reason to think it is often overlooked by 

 careless observers. Seldom if ever frequenting during the 

 breeding- season land that is' under tillage, it occasionally 

 betakes itself to such at other times of the year in those 

 districts where it is not migratory. Yet it shews a very 

 considerable diversity in its choice of locality, resorting in 

 one part of the country to wooded parks or hedge-bound 

 meadows interspersed with copses, while in another it will 

 be found only on dry sheep-walks and the borders of heaths, 

 but the vicinity of trees seems in all cases to be indis- 

 pensable. The explanation of this preference is doubtless 

 simple, but at present none can be attempted, beyond its 

 * Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 287 (1766). 



VOL. I. 4 L 



